The Inaugral Legends League and New Australian Legends Inductees

The second group of inductees into the Australian Legends is larger than I had intended, but as I went through the players I thought why not. They all deserve to make it. They’re induction is also a reaction to the first legends league, identifying our weaknesses and strengthening the squad.

So we have 10 new players, a mixture of those recently retired to those in their 50’s. Some inductees are symbolic and are won’t make the starting team, but thoroughly deserve their place through long term club and national team service.

Others are less well known or had limited opportunities with the national team when wings became the dominant tactic, leaving the short passing specialists to knock it around in the reserves while watching on from the stands.

So far wings has been avoided by all managers of their respective legends sides, it’s a silent collective agreement for the good of the game. It’s really given these games an old school feel, bringing variety and fun back to the matches. In a recent forum post gave an update as to how we performed

The current squad with their death or glory, attack and entertainment style had some good results and a few big losses.

	Team	M	W	D	L	+	–	=	P	Last 6
1	Argentinian Legends	16	14	0	2	104	12	92	42
2	Greek Legends	16	12	1	3	83	28	55	37
3	Italian Legends	16	10	0	6	67	58	9	30
4	Romanian Legends	16	8	0	8	69	40	29	24
5	Netherlands Legends	16	6	4	6	46	55	-9	22
6	Australian Legends	16	6	0	10	37	52	-15	18
7	Hungarian Legends	16	5	2	9	32	70	-38	17
8	Chilean Legends	16	5	0	11	23	63	-40	15
9	French Legends	16	2	1	13	17	100	-83	7

Early on our subs weren’t coming off the bench and we got crunched hard, but once they came on things evened out. Fitting all our great strikers into that team was fun, but we need a bit more down back and in the midfield. So yes, some strikers will miss out in the next legends league.

Ivan Hogan has suggested his spot be given to someone else, as other teams are taking these legends leagues to seriously, so before he gets a long term injury he’ll move into an assistant coaching role for the Aussie legends.

Since this post Hal Guy has called and ask for the same deal, I’ve a feeling Ivan spoke with him about retiring for a second time together. I’ve accepted both their offers, as having our all time great keeper and the all time leading scorer in a single world cup on the coaching panel will only bolster the squad further.

20	Paz Beattie	1 588 672 AUD	21 560 AUD	41	15
21	Fabrizio Whitmore	1 842 785 AUD	23 447 AUD	56	-1
22	Roger Miller	2 018 867 AUD	25 780 AUD	37	19
23	Neale Christini	2 061 329 AUD	26 072 AUD	42	14
24	Amos Fazey	2 128 183 AUD	26 984 AUD	39	17
25	Zackery Forrest	1 904 564 AUD	22 859 AUD	54	2
26	Brandon Pickhills	2 070 427 AUD	24 416 AUD	42	14
27	Elliot Cuddihy	1 593 351 AUD	20 597 AUD	40	16
28	Connor Limmer	1 832 194 AUD	25 185 AUD	44	12
29	Belton Fordham	1 736 829 AUD	29 953 AUD	36	20

The Keepers

20

Paz Beattie

1 588 672 AUD

21 560 AUD

41

15

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
25-07-2009	Youth Joined		*♂新航路♂→【澳大利亚】A JOKE	–
27-04-2010	*A JOKE		【AC】★米兰★※雪花※	50 000
13-01-2013	【AC】★米兰★※雪花※		Wings on Ice	3 703 711
31-05-2013	Wings on Ice		Trakyaspor	3 895 519
22-09-2013	Trakyaspor		SERAKENT	3 567 337
28-06-2014	SERAKENT		ABİDETÜRK JK	971 166

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	29	168
Goals	0	0
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	1

After Hal Guy left the national team a few keepers came and went without much fanfare, none of them are remembered in the public imagination. Even Paz Beattie can be easily forgotten, as after an initial sale for just $50 000 as a 19 year old, he spent most of playing career in the Chinese lower divisions 2, 3. The team is inactive now, but Paz spent 12 years of his life there, he speaks fluent mandarin as a result and has a Chinese wife.

After brief stint with Wings on Ice in the Dutch Eredivise before they sold up, he spent the rest of his career in Turkey’s lower divisions, spending a couple of seasons with three sides before retiring with Abideturk JK in division 5.

He didn’t win any premier division titles or have any cup success and the end of his career with the national team coincided with the rise of Elliot Cuddihy who pushed him on to the bench during the successful 2013 Conferations Cup run. But still this was the crowning glory of his career, mentoring the younger Cuddihy through his first international tournament while he was in his last was as rewarding as being on the pitch for the final whistle.

So where do you live now?

In Turkey, the political climate is tenuous right now but life in general keeps on going. My eldest is entering the Aussie equivalent of High School, so I don’t move around much beyond short business trips or special occasions. But I’ll have to clear some time for the legends squad, half the games are in Europe though so I’ll be able to fly in and out quite easily. The longest hauls will be going back to Australia for our home games.

You played in a lot of lower leagues, how do they compare to your stint with Wings on Ice?

It really depends, the lower leagues of China and Turkey are tough. The main difference is the standard of players in front of you, Wings on Ice had a great squad, my time there was the most challenging and rewarding of my career.

Any favourite memories of the 2013 confed cup run?

It was clear from the management that Toss was giving his keeper the starting spot, but Elliot deserved it. He was good, we roomed together throughout that competition, with a lot time to chat things over both on the training park and in the evenings. It was his first international tournament, so I took him out for dinner a few times, introduced him to the family and showed him the healthy way to travel with the national team. Good times, a great way to go out of the international spotlight.

27

Elliot Cuddihy

1 593 351 AUD

20 597 AUD

40

16

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
24-10-2009	Youth Joined		Panthers	–
14-10-2010	Panthers		Arrested Developers	1 167 003

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	15	30
Goals	0	0
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	0

The contrast between the careers outside of the national team football couldn’t be more different for Cuddihy and Beattie. Cuddihy never left Australia only playing for two clubs, the second of which was Arrested Developers.

Their Cuddihy won 5 A-League titles and 4 National Cups. Including 3 League/Cup doubles and a run of 4 consecutive A-League title, both achievements occurred between season 47 and 50. Throw in a Bessie A League for the Lemon Turd, his National Team success in the Confederation Cup and he’s led a full career.

During the season I took over writing about the A-League I began running the A-Leagues keeping award for clean sheets in a season. It was a keeping competition to rival the top scorers award for strikers. The idea began while writing about Division 1 and in honour of the inaugural running the winner would have the competition named after them.

Nick Hanlen won Division 1 inaugural keeping award, so it was called Hanlen’s Hand Warmer’s. Cuddihy won the A-Leagues inaugural season and thus the Cuddly Sheet was born. A traditionally handwoven warm blanket made from farm raised Nepalese Mountain Yak fur has been given to each winner since. Current Shrewsbury Biscuits and national team keeper Bleyd Renney has won 3 of them.

But this is about Elliot, so our questions began with the Confed Cup. How was it being a part our only international tournament trophy in your first tournament as a starting player?

Surreal, I was somewhat of a captain’s pick by my Tosspot, but with the guidance of Paz I learnt on the job, he gave me advice and remains a great friend. We got extremely lucky when Uruguay upset Brazil in the other Semi-final, they dominated that game but came up short.

That was the beginning of people using wings and throughout the tournament we took full advantage of the benefits it gave us, in the end we won the final comfortably thanks to 4 goals from Rizzardo. I don’t know anyone else who has scored 4 goals in the final of any international competition. His performance guaranteed that we won.

There was a big Arrested Developers connection with that side?

Yeah, we had a great squad that won 4 consecutive A-League titles. I think 6 of the starting players in the final came from our domestic side. Hess in defensive, Miller and Wharton in Midfield, Rizzardo up front, Pincini on the wing, myself in goals and Alcock came off the bench. A couple more became Arrested Developers player soon after the tournament ended through transfers. Too bad they are inactive now.

You know, there aren’t any player functions for an inactive club, the only time we see each other is at the Rowdon Medal count.

How do you feel about the Cuddly Sheet?

Well I got the first one, they originally made two, one for the winner and the other to go on display. The second gets passed between the winner club to hang in the trophy room and a new one get commission each year for the player that wins. Renney’s got 3 now, I’ve got 2, but the first was a special moment, we never had a keeping award before.

Any input into the design, why Yak fur?

It doesn’t itch and retains heat.

The Defenders

21

Fabrizio Whitmore

1 842 785 AUD

23 447 AUD

56

-1

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
02-07-2005	Youth Joined		The Smoking Tree	–
14-03-2007	The Smoking Tree		Mighty Morphing Sheep	9 760 916
26-07-2008	Mighty Morphing Sheep		Crimson Eagles FC	9 000 000

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	30	102
Goals	0	7
Red Cards	1	2
Yellow Cards	1	6

Amazingly these clubs are all still around, Crimson Eagles took an extended break, but I’ve not been able to say that about any other player of this age to be inducted in the Legends hall of fame. Their manager Senile Old Men had this to say about his now retired player.

Whitmore played Welsh Premier League in one of the great teams of the era, and finished up playing in my mob for a while so had a successful run.

Despite only having 8 speed, Whitmore was sold for 9 million AUD or more twice. A fortune back in the day. His first sale occurred when he was 22-23 from The Smoking Tree to Mighty Morphing Sheep. With them he won 3 Welsh Premier League titles in 5 seasons before returning home to the Crimson Eagles and play out the rest of his career. Winning an A-League title, 3 national cups and a season 9 cup.

With only 8 speed and 5 ball control you’d struggle to sell for million these days?

I know right, but back then having 8 shooting and 9 tackling meant I could play forward and back. Ideal to be a supporting striker, the shooting came later but it was nice to have.

22

Roger Miller

2 018 867 AUD

25 780 AUD

37

19

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
24-07-2010	Youth Joined		Inter Wodonga	–
02-05-2011	Inter Wodonga		Grantow	2 100 000
09-04-2013	Grantow		Arrested Developers	6 000 000
10-07-2014	Arrested Developers		≮王者归来≯柳州螺掌柜螺蛳粉	3 646 520
28-10-2014	≮王者归来≯柳州螺掌柜螺蛳粉		TRAKIA F.C.	2 610 234

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	27	132
Goals	0	3
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	1	2

The boy from the Wodonga came a long way from his roots. Inter Wodonga have been a youth team for a long time. Winning one domestic U/18 title in season 37, then continuing on to this day as an active member while never achieving anything else. Grantow as well were getting better and almost made the A-League before selling Miller to Arrested Developers in season 46.

In 5 season at the club he won 4 national cup and 5 A-League titles, with 3 of them being league cup doubles. During this time he also won the Confed cup with the National team. This stunning period of success for Miller came between the ages of 26-30. Then it was off for a season in China, before retiring at his final club Trakia FC in Bulgaria.

But before anything else Miller was a player famed for succeeding with only 5 play intelligence, so our question to him was how do rate your own intelligence?

I was never going to be an academic, but I’m not an idiot if that’s what you’re getting at. Low Play Intelligence doesn’t affect how fast you train, just on the pitch. Football intelligence and general intelligence are different thing.

Should you ever write a biography, we came with a title from Wodonga to Bulgaria, what do you think?

Haha, if it stopped when my playing career ended then it would be spot on. Perhaps there should be a post career section, coming home without leaving.

How so?

In Bulgaria, I run a chain of car repair outlets. It’s a never ending supply of income. Do a good job for a reasonable price and the customers return. Though that doesn’t say much for their driving skills.

The Midfielders

23

Neale Christini

2 061 329 AUD

26 072 AUD

42

14

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
25-04-2009	Youth Joined		Glasston

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	9	120
Goals	0	1
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	2

A great player condemned to the bench and reserves of the national team because he was a short passing specialist in an era of wing play. He may have only had 8 speed, but passing, stamina, ball control and tackling were all 9’s and 10’s. We already have 2 other Glasston greats in the squad with Rowdon and Howard, Christini’s addition to the squad completes the trifecta of Glasston’s truly great players.

Rowdon is the only other one club player to make the squad, Christini is the second and they both come from the same club. That alone tells about the Glasston system of player development, think long term and let your squad play out their full careers.

At Glasston if you’re good enough you’ll retire there. Over the span of his Glasston career he won 2 A-League titles and 3 National Cups.

You were introduce into the National team setup just before the wings craze began, then relegated to the reserves and a few friendlies after the 2012 Confed Cup and 2013 World Cup qualifiers?

You can’t stop progress or someone finding a way to exploit the system that makes you go from an integral part of the first team, to a redundant player within a season.

You watched on from the stands as they Confed Cup was lifted, does that sour the achievement?

Well in some way it does, but the guys that played did a great job. I mean Australia winning the Confed Cup, the chances of it happening are so slim, you need a combination of tactical nouse, a good draw in the group stage, then luck to avoid the strongest sides in the playoffs and a terminal red card during matches. We had all of that come together. With the size of our club based, it’s unlikely to ever happen again.

Plus even though I didn’t play, I still have a medal as the whole squad received them regardless of who played the games. So I’m happy for them, but I would have loved being on the pitch.

28

Connor Limmer

1 832 194 AUD

25 185 AUD

44

12

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
25-10-2008	Youth Joined		Duffield United	–
28-03-2011	Duffield United		Dribblers FC	5 744 616
01-10-2012	Dribblers FC		Duffield United	3 750 000
14-04-2013	Duffield United		Grantow	2 750 000
08-07-2013	Grantow		Amputees FC	2 000 000

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	16	167
Goals	1	0
Red Cards	0	1
Yellow Cards	0	11

For a player many won’t remember Connor Limmer won more than you’d expect, he was a solid midfielder you could rely on to make the tackle, hit the pass and run out the game. His 8 speed and 6 aerial passing prevented him from being an elite player when the game changed, but with 9 stamina, passing, tackling and ball control he was a formidable midfielders at local club level.

Duffield United was his original club and thankfully he was a youth before name changes came along, or I’m sure Grinner would’ve changed it to Duffield Duffield. Before his first sale to Dribbler FC nothing really happened, but while there they won 3 A-League titles, 3 national up, 2 league/cup doubles and a season 7 cup.

A quick glance at the Dribblers current list shows they began a rebuild, but gave up soon after and have remained inactive for several seasons. His next sale took him back to Duffield United and won an A-League title with them, before being sold on again as another side went into a prolonged period of trying to rebuild and losing interest multiple times, only being completely inactive last season for the first time.

His season in Division 1 with Grantow was uneventful, then he came to my club, Amputees FC. He only spent one season with me before retiring, which after spending 2 million AUD was slightly frustrating, and this was before the new retirement, so his career simply ended.

Connor Limmer showed me the quality of player I needed to develop in order win the A-League and become a competitive club. Before I bought him I’d never got above Div 1, in his season with me we achieved promotion to the A-League.

You work as a coach for me now, would you say you’ve retired?

No, but I can’t complain, training the youngsters is thoroughly rewarding.

Any players kids that I should especially keep my eye on?

Well Graham maxed in AP at 6, a shame given his talent elsewhere, he’s a wait and what his tackling will be. Our graduating keeper Phillip Ludwick sent everyone into a what the… moment when he decided to become a striker, but maybe we can change his mind yet yet.

Other than that Dalton Finden looks good, cross the finger with that one, so far so good and I don’t want to jinx it, maybe we already have by discussing him.

 

The Strikers

25

Zackery Forrest

1 904 564 AUD

22 859 AUD

54

2

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
27-05-2006	Youth Joined		*GoDs EleVeN	–
09-07-2007	*GoDs EleVeN		Crimson Eagles FC	5 000 000

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	30	110
Goals	34	86
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	1	3

Another Gods Eleven player makes the list, along with Brian Beattie. I wasn’t around back then and neither Beattie or Forrest played in side at the same time as each other. Which is crazy! Having 2 players of this quality come through your club and sell them on for the cash is ridiculous. These are once in a generation players, sell them and your club goes no where.

But I need to move on, he was sold to Crimson Eagles during their initial period of the game and retired there. This period time including his entire national team career in which he’s the 2^nd highest scorer for Australia in World Cup and Confed Cup games. His career at Crimson Eagles mirrored Whitmore for success with 1 A-League Title, 3 national cups and a season 9 cup.

Not many players for Australia have scored more goals than cup games played?

It could’ve been more had I not been subject to bouts of clumsiness, don’t get me wrong I was great at individual skills and touch. But I got reading the play and anticipating where to be before the ball was played horribly wrong at times.

Do you play much these days?

No, but I’ll have to now. Finden played in the first league, any chance at lining up alongside him?

I’ll keep it in mind.

The Utilities

24

Amos Fazey

2 128 183 AUD

26 984 AUD

39

17

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
23-01-2010	Youth Joined		Bye	–
12-07-2011	Bye		Shrewsbury Biscuits FC	3 000 000

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	1	36
Goals	0	0
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	0

I’ve no idea who Bye were before they changed their name as a farewell, but Bluedean was the username.

Fazey was young while at Bye, yet he was there when they won the A-League in season 37. His first sale was his last, spending the rest of his career at Shrewsbury Biscuits FC. Including all his national team career, which was cruelly spent in the reserves and friendly experimentation pre-qualifying matches.

At the end of his career his overall ability was almost on par with Murdock Rizzardo skills wise, yet because he was in the national team at the same time and played the same position he didn’t even make the bench because Pickhills was the preferred utility option.

At Shrewsbury Fazey won an A-League title in Season 51 and Season 15 Cup Season 46. Missing out on the National Cup season 53 and both Division Cup Season 52 & 53 – AU-CA-US Top League-Div1 because of retirement.

How do you feel about the lack of opportunities you had with the National Team?

Not much you can do at it. I would have loved to play more but I had to contend myself with a few friendlies. So I learnt to forget about it, focusing on my club form and the side was just coming good when I was on the way out. Ahhh, unfortunate really, but again there was little you can do when age starts to catch up.

26

Brandon Pickhills

2 070 427 AUD

24 416 AUD

42

14

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
25-04-2009	Youth Joined		Australian Youth Academy	–
31-03-2012	Australian Youth Academy		Woodbury	3 810 258
11-04-2012	Woodbury		Victoria Toruń	4 546 842
20-11-2012	Victoria Toruń		♞ VIRAO Extreme ♞	5 209 848

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	7	59
Goals	0	15
Red Cards	0	1
Yellow Cards	0	0

Pickhills lead the Australian Youth Academy from the Div 3 into the A-League for two seasons of 5^th place finishes. With a best A-League haul of 36 goals in their final competitive season before a brief sale to Woodbury for a month while they were still in Division 1. I’m not sure why you would buy a player only to sell them on a month later with the high taxes reducing the profit margin, but we’ll never know why as Mylanta has left the game.

It was then on to Poland where his goals led Victoria Torun from division 5 to 3 before being sold mid-season 44 on to his final club Virao Extreme in Chile for another 4 seasons before retiring in season 48. 3 of those season were spent in the Campeonato Chileno, being relegated in the 3^rd and the last in Division 1.

During this time he played a key role in taking Virao Extreme to their only ever National Cup title season 46. Coincidently this was Pickhills only Domestic Cup success with any club he played for and the period in which the 2013 Confederations Cup took place.

In the final years of your career everything came together?

I’m not sure why, some players go through their careers continuously helping out lower league teams to improve before being transferred to another one. I was lucky being a striker and could make a tangible difference to game results through scoring. Every club I played more than a season with was promoted, Virao Extreme eventually got demoted, but before that we won a national cup, the only one I’ve ever won.

This was happening at the same time as Australia won the Confed Cup?

Strange how after years of hard toil, it all happens at the same time. That was the only national team cup I was actively involved in from start to finish. Even as a sub I played most games. There wasn’t much left in me after that though. Perhaps one season more but it’s better to go out on a high.

Winger

29

Belton Fordham

1 736 829 AUD

29 953 AUD

36

20

Transfer History

Date	Team/Action		Team	Price (AUD)
23-10-2010	Youth Joined		Crystal Phallus FC	–
14-07-2014	Crystal Phallus FC		U18 Narančasti Siedlce	4 886 692
17-01-2015	U18 Narančasti Siedlce		Kulesze SA	4 338 191
23-04-2015	Kulesze SA		S.C. Sardaukar	1 403 618
09-07-2015	Released		S.C. Sardaukar	–

National Team Stats Available	Cup	Friendlies
Matches	17	91
Goals	1	0
Red Cards	0	0
Yellow Cards	0	2

Belton Fordham was there for all of Crystal Phallus’s high’s and low’s.  Reaching the A-League, then selling up without realising the dream of winning the A-League, because of the Arrested Developers dominance. From youth to his first transfer he spent 15 seasons at Crystal Phallus, in other words he was 30 when he left for the first of 2 teams and 3 seasons in the Polish 2^nd division.

His final transfer was listed in the knowledge that he had started to plan his retirement. Eric from Shrewsbury Biscuits and myself were interested in his services, but the price for a player who had 1 or 2 season left in him was too high and we both pulled out before SC Sardaukar put in the final bid. As things turned out his SC Sardaukar released him at the end of that season, a sad end for a player who could have retired with an Australian team.

Fordham won no national cups or premier league titles. His entrance into the national team came when Pincini began to deteriorate, replacing him as the starting winger. Belton was quick, his 10 speed made him a handful for any defender, deteriorations got to him in the end but still he deserves a spot in the legends team.

You were part of teams that were building towards something, but never achieved what they set out to do?

That’s true, at Crystal Phallus the results didn’t come and we finished mid table in all our A-League seasons. This led Damo to getting very frustrated with the game, as when he looked at the side on paper he thought he had a title contender, so he went into each of our 3 A-League seasons with high hope only to be let down. It eventually got to him and we were all sold.

Eric and I were bidding in your last transfer but it went to high, do players track who’s bidding on them?

Actually no, we’re blind from who is bidding on us. But we couldn’t influence the outcome anyway, you simply go to the highest bidder and hope it’s a decent club. Unfortunately no premier league contenders bought me and well, I was released. Though it happens to even the best as Rizzardo got the same raw deal.

Aussie Legends Original Youth Teams

Plainland – Ryan Pincini

Rutgers Utd – Donovan Kuch, Murdoch Rizzardo

Australian Youth Academy – Russ Colling, Brandon Pickhills

Hasslehoff Babes – Martin Cusbert

Milang – Jessop Howard

Katanning – Munroe Waterland

Chard City – Irwin Finden

Skoolage United – Bickford Bundy

Glasston – Cullen Rowdon, Neale Christini

The GunnerZ – Berke Kean

Crimson Eagles FC – Bo Boylin

Craven Cottagers FC – Berry Beverley

GoDs Eleven – Brain Beattie, Zackery Forrest

Telstra Utd – Bishop Lawrence

Hakea – Downing Beer

Manfred – Hal Guy

A Joke – Paz Beattie

Panthers – Elliot Cuddihy

The Smoking Tree – Fabrizio Whitmore

Inter Wodonga – Roger Miller

Duffield United – Connor Limmer

Bye – Amos Fazey

Crystal Phallus FC – Belton Fordham

Written by Scruttino

Interview with Birginia

1) Hot comment: how does it feel to have won a European? 😉
its really something amazing my friend!!!! its something that when we start (with my assistants) for this competition the only thing we want its to go to the next round top 16 and then if we are lucky to play in best8…. but every game was an amazing game for our team with big wins against big nations and in the final we play really amazing and we won 4-3! I cannot believe our success yet…its something that we will understand after some seasons because this is happening for first time in our history and its difficult to repeat that success!!! I want to thank my assistants for the 100% amazing cooperation and this is something that we will never forget!!! thanks for the interview and i hope the best for italy in the coming tournaments

2) I recently interviewed for the championships under and we know that you are currently among the best managers of mz, but lately we have seen that you get on very well with the seniors. 😛 Did you think you can get to the end of the competition and bring Greece to victory?
Thanks a lot for your kind words! look its something really really difficult. its something that greece never done before and we need not only good tactical desicions but and luck with us…..we will try our best to go as far as we can and why not if we have that chance to try to win it!!!!

3)it was a good race, too bad for my country. However go on the best and you have been the best of all. I looked at the training and I am surprised as most of your national players have not yet 30 years old. So you have in your hands real champions. Then I look at the tactics and I am even more confused. At high levels the position of a few pixels of a player can affect a lot, so you want to talk a little of this tactic?
Yes it was amazing win for our country….Italy was unlucky with the red card (i hope crew will fix that idiot bug) but i thing you will be back even stronger after this!!! me and my assistants we try to change our national team and get rid players with 6 7 speed 34 years players ( was 8-9 before deterors) and try to make a new team with better ages….it was difficult to do that because we dont have so many players in our nation in high level but our moove went amazing and we win that trophy with lot of new players with amazing age overall. we play lot of tactics and of course i dont open my secret and my cards in public but the only thing i can say is yes the pixels play very important role how the players play into the ground and believe me made lot of challenges to every tactics they play our opponents to try to find which is the best tactic to play against them!!!! we risk some times but thats the game!!! now we are really thrilled about this we archive and we will try to play good (if we are elected again for 3 time in a row) and in coming world cup

4) You are a great manager demonstrated on several fronts. In the final, we find national as Sweden, or China, or Belgium, or Turkey that everyone expected as the favorite;We included Greece and Poland to show what you are really the best around.
Fought final, very funny and with the result in the balance until the last minute. Honestly, what do you think during the match?
Thanks for includes us in the favourites but we are not in the dreamland we know we dont have such talented players like sweden or poland or romania but we have our fighters really the final was something amazing. for me was the best game i ever see in this game! it sounds very amazing but it was the final of european championship the atmosphere was amazing we start talking with our community via national team news starting for 3 o clock in the afternoon and me with my assistants we start the talking from skype the same time… i must told you that the call closed 12 o clock in the night we talk 8 hours in a row we celebrate our win like crazy we see the game with some friends all online in skype we put some songs after the victory was really amazing moments we will never forget!!! but to answer to your question when we start the game and we make quick 1-0 we are very confident for the game (same start against turkey) but poland was very strong and he score 2 quick goals and we loose 1-2 after 25 minutes. that moments we afraid that we will loose with big margin because after that poland loose 2 more big chances but in 5 minutes 36-41 amazing skilas scored 2 more goals and we go in front 3-2 amazing celebrations again in skype and we are screaming to finish the first half with us in front, but in the last minute poland make the score 3-3 and again we where very sad!!! to put in a half time to poland 3 goals and not winning we were very dissapointed!!! second half starts with poland loose many chances and we do the same and we see the game going to overtime BUT the dream comes true after 97 minutes my brother striker who comes into the game after 70 minutes scores for us the winning goal and we cant believe it!!! we scream like crazy, songs, celebrations!!! i hope to put you into our feelings and understand little bit these moments !!! its something really special and i hope lot of managers some time to feel these moments…

5) Honor the winners and I am very happy because I know that you are a great manager;)
Now election time, and I can not say too much. You have done so much for your community and the national and your mandate is confirmed.
Do you want to tell us about some of your staff?
I am glad you make me that question!!!! i am very lucky that i have 2 great managers with me!!! every decision we make in the european championship is after lot of talk with my assistands!!! both dim7 and larrylaffer they know the game and that is more easy for us to find the correct tactic against any opponent and try our best in every game…..we have amazing communication and thats the key for our success, so of course and in the new ellections my assistants will be the same and we will try if we elected again to do the best for our country

6) I think this is the crux of the game: cooperation and confrontation.
It ‘been a great pleasure to re-keen to hear from European champion. What would you like to add something that even I did not ask but you’d like to say?
Thanks a lot my friend for that interview its nice to talk to a community i visit lot of times in my life because i love italy and i am from Corfu (kerkira) amazing island near italy as you all know and because most of users know me as birginia my real name is spiros and i want to tell to your community if anyone comes to my island in the summer dont hesitate to contact with me and to meet and talk from the game there some great managers here in my island (we are all friends fanis-ale , dimitris-psomi….) and we all be ready for a meeting with you dear readers!!!

Written by theking94 and Birginia

Interview with Thunderexpress

1) Hi dear Peter. First of all thank you very much for your courtesy. We know that you are really helpful and kind all the time. You always try to solve problems. So, what kind of person is Peter in real life?
Thank you for having me! That’s very kind words, I try to help as much as possible and if I could, I would have answered all questions from all our users. Unfortunately time is often against me. I try to be pretty much the same in real life as I am in ManagerZone. I am extremely competitive and a bit of a workoholic.

2) In real life, every person faces with difficulties. We all (and still) live in a world of hardness. What is your story, would you please tell us about your past?
I agree that we are facing difficulties in the world, especially in these times. Even though Sweden is blessed in many ways. I come from Sweden, the land of dark winters and bright summers. I started working at the age of 15 and at the same time i studied. I studied software engineering at the university and at the same time I worked as an IT tech guy. I was more or less head hunted to Power Challenge (the owner of ManagerZone) and I never hesitated when I got the question. I have always loved football, hockey and computer games. So this is really a dream job for me.

3) Let’s talk about ManagerZone- World’s Best Online Game. When and how did you join ManagerZone? Do you keen on your team “Laughing Dogs”? And I wonder why your team name is “Laughing Dogs”?

I started working for ManagerZone 5 years ago. I really love working for ManagerZone. I love the game, the Community and the future for ManagerZone. It is difficult to play ManagerZone since I know “too much” about the game so it wouldn’t be fair for everyone else if I tried my best to play. the name Laughing dogs comes from my real life dog. He was a dalmatian and he could laugh like a human, hence the name ‘Laughing dogs’. I am proud of my team of course but I don’t want the Players to be ‘too good’ if you understand what I mean. I don’t want users to think that it is any funny business going on so I try to not rise to high in the divisions.

4) Can you please tell us about ManagerZone’s unknown sides? I mean as users we just play that wonderful game and enjoy. But how do you Crew (and/or other assistants) work to keep this nice organization sustain, how many people is behind this nice organization? And what makes ManagerZone different or special?
We are a small company and a lot of our time goes to maintain the company. We treat ManagerZone as if it was real life. We (crew) take ManagerZone more serious than any other real life sport. For every season break we go through everything manually to make sure that everything looks OK for the new season, every Cup we create is created manually etc. So even though we are not a lot of people we live and breath the game! You guys are the difference between ManagerZone and other games. Our wonderful community is very special. Even though we sometimes disagrees, we get so much valuable input and suggestions from our community who helps us develop the game in a good direction.

5) Have you ever faced with harsh things in ManagerZone? Or did you experience something that you can’t forget? Maybe some good memories also.

The good memories are a lot more than bad memories. I love the passion that I see from Managers, like the ManagerZone meeting in Turkey when Managers brought their families to the meeting. That was really awesome to read about! I have also attended MZ meetings myself and it is always a real treat to meet our passionate Managers. Regardless where in the world I go, it always strikes me how much passion our community has and how much they love the game. It is fantastic to see that ManagerZone brings people together. Since I am a little bit famous in ManagerZone I sometimes become a target for frustated users. It is obviously not fun to be threatened but at the same time I know how much ManagerZone means and I understand that sometimes Managers needs someone to channel the frustration towards. That’s just something that comes with the job.

6) Related with the previous question are there any good or bad memories about our community?

Yes, as I said I really enjoy reading about ManagerZone meetings from Turkey and I hope that I can attend a meeting very soon. Turkey as a community is very passionate and I visit the Turkish forum every day and read about what you like and what you don’t like. I use google translate and usually it gives me an idea of what is the hot topics. I wish I could write more but unfortunately I can’t speak Turkish and I don’t want to disrespect the community by writing in English or Swedish too much.

7) Let me tell you something, recently we have found that there had been ManagerZone World Cup Organizations in some countries in real life (in 2004 in Sweden, in 2005 in Argentina, in 2007 in Brazil for example). Would it be possible again? We would like to host “ManagerZone” in Istanbul.

Yes, that was before my time but I have heard and read about it. It is a great idea and I would love to rewamp this idea. Istanbul would be the perfect place to host a World Cup. With one of the most passionated football fans in the world I can’t imagine anything other than a success.

8) Do you follow any Turkish soccer team in real life? I know that you are a fan of Fenerbahce -do not let them know actually I am a fan of Fenerbahce 🙂 – What do you think about this year’s transfers of Turkish teams?

yes, I follow the Turkish soccer league, but not as much as I used to. We have had a lot of good Swedish football players in Turkey but at the moment Swedish football is not very good (a part from Zlatan). van Persie to Fenerbahce was an interesting transfer but I am afraid the RVP is not the same great footballer that he ones was..

9) And do you follow any Turkish managers/teams in ManagerZone? What do you think about Turkish managers? Personally we think that ManagerZone World League was organized for us –Turkish managers 🙂

Haha yes, you are extremely succesful in ManagerZone, what is your secret? I follow the Turkish top league and the World League. You have some real legends in Turkey like legendaryboy52, unbeatenteam,raikkonen52 etc. I am very impressed by the Turkish dominance at the moment. It proves that the Turkish community is very good at adapting to the improvements to ManagerZone.

10) What is pros and cons of our managers do you think? For example I have to tell you that token price is regarded as expensive for our socciety. 1 euro is nearly 3 Turkish Liras and buying token sometimes can be expensive for all of our managers. I meyself think this is cons for our managers.

Yes, I wish that everything could be of charge in ManagerZone but I promiss you that all the money we make in ManagerZone goes right back into Managers for new servers, new features and maintaining the game.

11) What do you expect from Turkish community as Crew member of ManagerZone? What is your advice for our community and for our managers?

I expect that turkey will be an even larger ManagerZone country and we all know that it is more fun to play ManagerZone the more users we have. So I expect everyone to tell their friends to start playing this wonderful game. You will see a lot of great new features and I can only say that you have just seen the beginning of the ManagerZone era!

12) Is there anything else you want to talk about dear Peter? Do you want to add something?

I just want to thank all of you for playing and supporting the game! You are great and remember that ManagerZone is a place to get away from the hard world outside so please be nice and kind to each other.

13) Thank you very vey much dear Peter. We are really happy to see you in our community. We know that you are too busy but when you have time please visit our Forum pages and at least say “Hi”. Hope to see you again.

I am frequently visiting the Turkish forum but I promiss that I will be better at writing in the forums. Thank you very much for having me in your great magazine. And thanks to all RAs for all the efforts you are putting in to make ManagerZone a better place!

Written by Isk42 and Thunderexpress

Interview with Hogweed

1)In our society Crew members seem different from each other for example we say landlord for patrick777 and industrious for thunderexpess 🙂 how do you describe yourself? Mysterious maybe because we can’t see you so often?

I’d say I’m a controller since I help the crew with things that are related to the assistants. That’s probably why I’m not so visible in the game as Crew…

2)As far as we know you live in Italy. Would you please tell us about yourself and your past?

Yes I live in Italy near Rome. I’m cooperating with Powerchallenge company since 2008 and it has been a great opportunity for me. I started helping out as assistant and then I became Crew. Even if this is not my main job it’s something I really like to do.

3)Italy can be identified as country of football. Do you like football and what is favorite football clup? Italian teams are still very succesful but in around 2000s there was an Italian dominance with Zlatan, Adriano, Cafu, Nedved and Delpiero and lots of legends that I can’t count. I miss them so much. Do you?

Well… I’m 45 years old and I’m a supporter of AC Milan. This team was very strong in the 90s and in 2000s. My favourite players ever are Van Basten, Franco Baresi, Shevchenko and Kakà. Considering that AC Milan is currently not even able to qualify in Europa League you can bet I miss the old glorious years 🙂

4)What do you think about Turkish football and Turkish football teams. Is there any match that you can’t forget towards a Turkish team?

I remember a Turkish coach that came to AC Milan for a short while, Fatih Terim. He didn’t have much luck there but I really liked him as coach and person.If I’m not mistaken he is now training the Turkish NT.

5)Now if you let, it is ManagerZone time- World’s Best Online Game. When and how did you join ManagerZone? And what makes ManagerZone different and special do you think?

I joined MZ in 2006. What makes it special, IMO, is the way you can see players growing up day by day. It’s probably a sort of special balance of things that creates a relationship between the managers and its players 😉

6)What does your username “hogweed” mean? And I see your team name is “Coccodrilli Brilli”. Do they have special meanings for you?

Never heard of the Genesis musical band? They made a song called “The return of the giant Hogweed”. About Coccodrilli Brilli it means drunk crocodile… nothing special but in Italian looks funny.

7)I like asking that question because everyone has a story with ManagerZone: Did you experience something that you can’t forget in ManagerZone? I’m sure there are so many but the most interesting or funny ones if you mind 🙂

The most special moments are when I had the chance to meet in RL people I knew only in MZ. Last year I met Peter in RL and it was really nice. We have been to a meeting with other Italian managers and it was really fun! When you finally can see the face of the person you daily meet in MZ is fantastic.

8)How do you describe Turkish community and Turkish users? What do you offer for Turkish community as a Crew member?

Turkish community is very big in MZ. In these years I had the opportunity to know many Turkish managers and I have to say that many are brilliant guys and loyal assistants. I can say that my role is to try to assure that the Turkish assistants do their best to control the forum and the market, to keep the game translated and to entertain the community with TZ Magazine. And I think that the Turkish assistants are a good team!

9)I asked that question to dear Peter and he was positive. Let me ask to you too: recently we have found that there had been ManagerZone World Cup Organizations in some countries in real life (in 2004 in Sweden, in 2005 in Argentina, in 2007 in Brazil for example). Would it be possible again? We would like to host “ManagerZone” in Istanbul.

I’m only the controller. The decision is up to the “Landlord” 😉

10)Thank you so much dear Alessandro. We are glad to see you in our community. If you have time please visit our Forum pages and please say “Hi”. Hope to see you again 🙂

Thanks to you for the interview. A big “Ciao” from Italy!

Written by Isk42 and Hogweed

Interview with gore (MA,NC and GPA)

1) Hi Luciano, can you describe yourself for the people that want to know about you?
Hi there 😀 I have 31 years old, married, i live in Braga a beautiful portuguese city where i studied Law and i work here for Peugeot as a salesman. I’m also father of a 2 month old beautifull baby called Lourenço 😀

2) You started to play on 2006. It seems you play for a long time for the MZ World. What’s your story to begin the game?
Yeah 9 years is a lot of time dedicated to this beautiful game. I started playing MZ in a lan house where i player Counter Strike, one day a friend showed me and the rest of the costumers in the lan house a game he compared to Football Manager but online and really addicted. Almost everyone that hanged in the lan house created a team 😀 I loved the game and i’m still here, most of those users unfortunaly left the game, but the user that brought the game to our knowlegde still plays, username “mocas”.

3) You compete now in Portugal Super League. And also play in top Uxx leagues. When, you think, you will be in top league of World League?
Being in the 4 Top leagues is very hard, specially for some seasons in a role, but the world league is a lot more competitive, it has the best teams in the MZ world so i think i’ll need at least 4 seasons to get there, but at the moment my time is reduced because my son “stealls” almost all of my free time so it will probably take more than that 😀

4) You are MA in the game. What are the difficulties and advantages of being an MA in the game? Your actual duty is FMA, so how do you see your national forum in MZ? As i recognize 2 FA’s are responsible in your country. What are your thoughts also for the Turkish Forum?
Being a FMA is a role that sometimes can be hard, but the FA team is great so i really don’t have much difficulties 😀 My job is mostly hire new FA’s or dismiss them when required and help them in the hot cases. I’m the FMA for the Portuguese and Brazilian forum so i have more than 2 FA’s in the team 😀 My national foruns are almost the opposite, the Portuguese forum has few posts but the Brazillian forum is one the the most, if not the most posted in MZ. I’d love to see the Portuguese forum with more “life” as the Brazilian one 😀
I think that the Turkish forum is great, the Turkish people is very enthusiastic when it comes to football 😀

5) You also help national football as a NC. You are selected with %30 difference against your nearest opponent. How you feel to work for Portugal National Team? You were in the same group with Turkey on the last European Championship. You lost at final match and couldn’t promote to higher level. What do you think about the championship and Turkish National Team in that sense?
Working for the national team is a great honor, it was a great experience, unfortunaly the results came up short due a couple of unfortunate events, bad luck with the red card bug ;( But it is part of the game, this time we got it, the next it will happen to others 😀
I think that the European Championship was great and ha a unexpected winner, but i saw great games 😀
The Turkish NT did a good championship, in the group stage even tough Portugal managed to beat them in a balanced match they had IMO the best squad, and one of Europe’s best.

6) You comment about Turkish National Team in MZ. What can you say about the Portugal and Turkish football in real life?
Both Portugal and Turkey have great football teams 😀 Always very competitive, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Besiktas seem to be the top teams, in Portugal “my” Sporting C.P., F.C. Porto and S. L. Benfica are the top 3 teams.

7) What can you say about the game platform of Portugal in MZ? What are your plus and minus sides?
The game plataform here is nice, it has some interesting partners and used to have publicity in the TV and some sports papers. At the moment the minus is the low number of users compared to the past, crisis took a lot of users from the game.

8) In admin forum there are studies about the new SIM and you also work as a GPA. Can you tell us about the new SIM?
I can tell you that i liked the tests i have made, that the defenders are a whole lot better and strikers score a lot more in one on one versus the goalkeeper. It’s a more reallistic SIM even thought it’s only in it’s beta version. I believe that it will be the best SIM this game ever had.

9) You are one of the three people in MZ who work as an admin, national coach and GPA. So the game is much more important for you. Can you tell us the role of MZ in your life?
MZ usually takes much of my time, i really like this game, the possibilities and potencial in MZ is gigantic, youth leagues, senior leagues, youth formation, maximization, deteriotation (yeah i like the system of deterioration ). At this moment MZ takes less of my time because of my little baby 😀
10) Finally do you have something to add?
Many thanks for this interview mate, it was a pleasure and an honor, and keep up the great work in the TZ interviews, you had a lot of great interviews in the last TZ’s, from CREW to Assistants.
For the turkish comunity my best wishes and a happy 2016 😀
Thank you for your honest replies and time.

Written by Isk42 and Gore

Interview with Silverkhan

1) Hi dear Timothy. First of all thank you very much for your accepting our offer. You are known as an objective and active HMA and also you are a good leader for all assistants and for the managers, too. What kind of person is Timothy in real life, what do you do?

In real life I work for the Belgian Government, I’m 33 y old, married, have a daughter and play football on a recreative level.

2) We know that you live in Belgium. Have you ever faced with harsh things in your life? Would you mind talking about your past dear Timothy?

Everybody faces some harsh things in life somewhere but of course it depends on what you mean by harsh. I imagine that growing up in Belgium you are most likely to have a good life, face some things that might bring you down a bit but never as harsh as elsewhere in the world.

3) Belgium National Team is number 1 in FIFA classification. How did Belgium National Team manage this big success do you think? What is the main point? And in 2016 Europian Championship what do you expect?

It’s incredible that we’ve been able to achieve the number 1 spot. We’ve got some talented players for sure and we’ve got a decent enough mix of players but I doubt that the number 1 spot reflects the strength of our national team. All in all there’s a pretty decent youth education in Belgium, you can learn to play on the streets but most definite there’s a good scouting in Belgium as all of our youngsters are playing abroad.
My expectation is that the team is being overrated. I’ve seen a lot of other national teams play and I’m more convinced about Italy’s or Englands youngsters. I was impressed when I saw the Polish national team play and I’m impressed by Austria. It won’t be as easy as most people think and I believe Belgium will survive it’s group but will be eliminated pretty soon afterwards.

4) I’m sure you like football much and you are fond of some Football teams in real life? What is your favorite team?

In Belgium my favourite team is Club Bruges. Worldwide I’m a fan of Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool FC. I dislike everything that’s Spanish football with exception of Atletico Madrid.

5) Do you know any Turkish football teams or any Turkish players in real life? How do you comment on Turkish Football?

We’ve got a pretty large Turkish community in Belgium. Cause of that I do know some Turkish teams yes. The three big Istanbul teams certainly are known well, but I also know Gençlerbirliği, Antalyaspor, Buraspor, Kasimpasa, … and probably some more. Sometimes I know them because of Belgian players of players coming from our league play there. For example Ryan Donk, sometimes because of the more famous players like Wesley Sneijder or Robin Van Persie.
Playerwise the older stars like Hakan Sukur, Emre, Volkan Demirel and so forth ring a bell. But also the newer players like Arda Turan, Hakan Calhanoglu, Burak Yilmaz are worth following. There’s of course also some Turkish players that chose for other countries to play for.

On the competition itself I can’t really say much I’m afraid. I don’t really follow it very active. I think the Turkish league is stronger then Belgian one.
It was with a bit of luck that Bruges eliminated Besiktas last year.

6) We see that you joined ManagerZone in 2003. It’s been a long time, how did you join ManagerZone? Do you have a story?

I joined ManagerZone because of a friend who bumped into it. He told about it to myself and 4 other friends. So I started out with 5 guys playing, discussing,… a healthy rivalry. Only me and 1 other guy kept around. The rest quitted within 6 months.

7) And your username is “silverkhan”. Does it have a special meaning for you dear Timothy?

Not really a special one no. I tend to use the name on various platforms. It means the Silver Conquerer.
Silver because we try to win as much silverware as possible, Khan coming from Genghis Khan.

8) As we said before you have been playing this nice game for 12 years. I’m sure you are full of memories, do you want to share one of them with us?

I did come across some nice things during that period yes. Most people would probably mention their first tittle or cup as one to remember, I actually don’t.
I started playing ManagerZone when it was hugely popular in Belgium. I won division 5 and 4 with great ease but then I ended up in division 3.2. A division that is still famous in Belgium. This because of the fact that nearly all of the topmanagers from Belgium passed through it. Guys like jerdefox, denbasti, kleintje, brillian ants fc, bootleg babies .. Sometimes I think that division was througher then our First Class. I took me 7 seasons to get passed it. And I held on, didnt complain but simply enjoyed to big games.

9) We can’t say you are away from Turkish Society, you are always with us. What do you think about Turkish Society? As an HMA what do you see in Turkish Society?

I wouldn’t say I’m never away. I follow from a distance and through some people I know in the community as well as through the xA’s we’ve got there. I’m happy to have some friends who keep me informed and I’m more then happy to have some very good agents at ZenDesk as well as good people in the FA, RA and LA ranks.
When nothing happens I’m also less informed then when things gets stirred up. It’s then when the bells start ringing at all sides :-).

I think I can say that it’s a very passionate community. Passionate in their discussions, the love for their teams and the love for ManagerZone. A large winners mentality with all of the managers, good friendships between managers but equally passionate rivalries that sometimes evolve a bit to far. But I’m glad we have such a big Turkish community and I hope it can keep growing.

10) Do you follow any Turkish managers in ManagerZone?

I’m afraid that I’m not following any managers no. But rest assure I simply don’t follow any managers specifically in any place.
Don’t have a special love or hate for any team on ManagerZone. When I started ManagerZone I did do that, I followed some English, Danish and German teams but I don’t really do that no more. So many teams are good and the list would be to large to follow.

11) You are leading nearly 50 assistants and ten thousands of users. We know you are not only leading assistants but also help users by yourself. Isn’t it hard to coordinate all these people? Do you have any memory that you can’t forget related with your HMA job?

Lets stop at leading +/- 50 assistants. It’s those assistants that lead the 10.000 and more users. And lets keep in mind that I don’t lead myself but I lead with my fellow HMA’s as well as with the 4 GMA at ZenDesk if you pick my part of the game. Without my colleague HMA/GMA and especially without my agents I would not lead at all. The harder work falls on their shoulder being the spokespeople of ManagerZone.

I’ve helped many people yes, I probably also made some unhappy. Not all of the xA job is fun. I think I was most happy when I could help out crew reform the xA ranks.
The regional way of working, the more structured way of working as xA’s, .. I think and hope the xA’s still like that way of working and I hope it has helped ManagerZone to be more transparant and to be more responsive.

12) Lastly, what do you offer for our community? Do you any advice?

Keep on doing what you do? The Turkish community has become a very important community on ManagerZone. It’s become very large and very active. Like I said already I hope that it keeps growing and I doubt I can give an advice to do that. The only advice I can give is don’t give up, even if the results are not as you’d like them to be don’t give up. Keep looking for something new, keep looking for ways to make your team better and simply enjoy building up rivalries with people in your league.

Written by Isk42 and Silverkhan

Interview with damcio

1)Hi dear Damian. First of all thank you for your help. You work as HMA in ManagerZone as we know. Would you please tell us something about yourself (in real life)?

Hi. My name is Damian. I am married, and have two daughters. I work in a company that supply water. My hobbies are: sailing, running, playing football.

2)You are from Poland as we know. Poland has historic importance and also some sad memories in the past. I have a Turkish friend who has been in Poland for a long time and he always praises your beautiful country. How is Poland now and how is life in Poland do you think?

My country changed a lot during last 20 years. I have visited many countries and can not imagine life abroad. It is a beautiful country with beautiful women 

3.What you think about Turkey dear Damian? And Turkish people?

Unfortunately I do not know any Turkish people and I haven’t been in Turkey yet . As I watch in TV a lot of things happen last years in your country. I can only base on interviews with Turkish managers and xA. We have reliable and hardworking Turkish Xa’s.

4.Do you have any favorite football team? And what do you think about Turkish football and football teams in real life?

Of course my favourite football team is GKS Tychy (the team from my town). I know only four Turkish teams: Fenerbahce,Trabzonspor, Galatasaray and Besiktas. As I remember there were some Polish players in Turkey, unfortunately they couln’t do career. About favourite team abroad – it is Manchester United, no doubts 

5.You have been playing ManagerZone for 12 years. It is more than a decade. What kind of feeling is that? How did you come across ManagerZone?

My friend let me know about the game. After that I registered and play till now. Yes it is a long time but I do not regret. Actually I do not (as it was in the past) wake up at night and buy players on a transfer list but I am further engaged

6.I’m sure you have more and more memories in your ManagerZone life as a manager. What are your “bests” memories as a manager?

Unfortunately I have not got a lot of success in Managerzone. I have played in top division in football and hockey. I won U21 World Cup and one Division Cup in hockey. But I will try to change it 

7.You have been helping our managers for ten years. ManagerZone is like a part of your life. Would you like to tell us something related with your assistant life dear Damian?

At the begining I was GA, after that MA. Now I am HMA and I am in charge of translations, forums and The Zone magazines. It does not mean I am in contact with every LA’s, RA’s, FA’s. I usually deal with FMAs, LMAs and RMAs. It is a great feeling to be a part of the game, the community.

8.Is there similarities between Polish and Turkish communities in ManagerZone do you think?

We both have successful managers and big communities. Polish and Turkish community have similar strength I think. Turkish Community is more active on forum.

9.Your Turkish RA team is working hard lately and I personally appreciate their nice work. Would you like to tell something to your all assistants as HMA?

Please keep on doing great job. It is not only me who appreciate that. This game would be quite different if not for your contribution.

10. And what do you advice for Turkish managers?

Do not give up. It is hard to give any advices. I think everyone can find own way to success. I hope Turkish community will grow all the time. What I can advice is try to attend meetings. I know many people from Managerzone, who I have constant contact. This happened through participation in Meetings. Nowadays after many years we still meet each others with whole families.

11.Is there anything you want to add or you want to talk dear Damian?

Thanks for the interview. I greet the whole Managerzone community.

Written by isk42 and damcio

Interview with Mikelony

1. Hi dear Mike. First of all thank you. We tell you “a rising star” or should we say “already raised” 🙂 You are working as S&I GMA for ManagerZone. Can you please tell something about yourself?

Hi. Thanks for this interview! Well, it’s true that I’m a well known manager due to all this time playing, but I’m here to help MZ out wherever they want. My name is Miguel, although I prefer be called Mike. 30 years old, IT guy, supporter of Real Madrid and my hobbies are technology, music and sports.

2. You are from Spain and I think I have something to tell us about Spain?

Spain is a beautiful country to live. It’s true that our politicians are not our best ambassadors due to corruption, but spanish people is friendly, polite and we treat our visitors very well. Of course you are invited!

3. Spain has many strong football teams. Of course we know much about Spanish Football Teams but I wonder which one is your favorite?

Without any doubt, Real Madrid. Now we have a complicated situation, but this team is the best of the football history, and we will come back to win a lot of titles!

4. What do you think about Turkish football/teams dear Mike? And also Turkish players? Do you know or follow any Turkish team?

From time to time, I read some news from Fenerbahce, Besiktas an Galatasaray, mainly because these team could be potential opponents of Real Madrid in UCL. I know some Turkish players, like Arda Turan, but to be honest Super Lig is not of my followed leagues around the world.

5. And do you have any Turkish friends in real life? What you think or know about Turkey?

Not in real life, but in this outstanding game, ManagerZone :). I know Turkey is a passionated country, where politics and religion are some important. I love his food, and top three teams, Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce, are very competitive.

6. When and how did you start ManagerZone?

I started in MZ on 20th May of 2004, so almost 12 years ago playing. I knew this game for an old friend, Cookies321, who is not currenty playing, but I hope he will come back in a while. He is the guilty of my presence here! 🙂

7. Your username is “mikelony” and your team name is “A.D. Alcorcon”. Do they have any meaning for you?

A bit. My username is the first I registered when I started on Internet (1999), and I continue using it. My team name is for the football team of my city, A.D. Alcorcón, which is currently playing on Second Division.

8. What is your “bests” in ManagerZone? What are the things that you can’t forget?

My bests in the game was winning on Season 9 Cup in Hockey, and runner-up of a couple of official cups in Football and played in First Division. I won’t never forget all friends I’ve known here, and some of them I’ve met personally. In my oppinion the power of this game is the Community, and people you know in your trip.

9. What makes ManagerZone different, do you think? What are advantages of this best game and organization?

As I’ve said, Community, Assistants and regular people who plays are the best assets this company has. The main advantage is be able to organize a talented Assistant group, because if those Assistants love the game, then for sure they will do their tasks very well, because they will put a lot of passion.

10. Do you follow any of our managers? What do you think about Turkish managers?

I’m currently following Senatorkobra and Sodom12, cause they are my virtual friends from Turkey. As in real life, Turkish managers put a lot of passion in all they do, and I like it, because they do their best in the game, and they are quite competitive also.

11. How do you see the future of ManagerZone?

I’ve talked this with my friends, and for me it’s clear. Company has to decide if they want to hook New Managers, or keep happy current. Now, from my point of view, they prefer to keep happy old Managers, like me, but they are not digging a lot seeking New Managers. In countries like Spain, where we have two big sport newspapers like Marca and AS, if they would invest in a big marketing campaign, they could recruit a lot of New Managers. Anyway I think MZ has a long road to drive…

12. Is there anything you want to add dear Mike? Thank you very much and hope to see you in our community/Forum 🙂

Thanks for this nice interview! Long life to ManagerZone!!!

Written by Cankuthan and Mikelony

Ice Hockey – Most expensive transfers S44 (Top 10)

Most expensive transfers S44 (Top 10)

Crew has opened for us a list with the Top 10 most expensive transfer last season and I did my job as a reporter and contacted all the managers and they all kindly showed the players so we could publish here, exclusively in The Zone.
The intention in this article is only to show the players as I believe managers have the curiosity to see them and maybe analyse whether they were worth the money or not, however we are not going to analyse anyone in the magazine because it would not be fair to the managers who bought them and made this article possible to be written. What I can say though is that they are really, really good players and I would be really happy to have them in my team haha.
Let’s cut to the chase now and show them, enjoy!

Number 10
From HC Vivatoons to Uxx Horelica for 4 690 335 Euro (2014-11-15)

Very young player, maxed with 10 in Power and fast enough with 8 in quickness, what a great promise the Slovak team have in their squad!

Number 9
From Zabicky to HK Greenhorns for 4 924 859 Euro (2015-01-08)

Absolutely complete player with only 26 years old. He will have with luck, 10 seasons more to help the 23 time champions of Slovenia’s Top League.

Number 8
From MarquinhosHC to Cide Spor for 5 000 000 Euro (2014-10-27)

What a beast he is and even with 33 years old he still hasn’t started his retirement plans, meaning that he can be Cide Spor’s centre in line 1 for around 3 more seasons.

Number 7
From Priests to Gandalf Dragons for 5 179 506 Euro (2014-11-21)

Strong and resistant, you will definitely not find a defender much better than him with only 24 years old.

Number 6
From HC Toporu Juniors to HC Magic Rangers for 5 355 001 Euro (2014-10-31)

Really young player. The Polish side have a top, top winger to help them going back to Div2. Oh I wish I had him.

Number 5
From Ice Cold Perhaps to Grube Bolki Gizycko for 5 360 384 Euro (2014-10-17)

Experienced player and complete, if Grube Bolki Gizycko have a couple of players like Andrzej Oleszak so they will definitely be a contender to win the Polish league this season.

Number 4
From Montana Bears to Inkula Flames HC for 5 437 797 Euro (2014-12-31)

Kenny is almost perfect in the primary attributes and one of the best players I have ever seen at this age. Great purchase by the Finnish Top Team.

Number 3
From Falsztyn SA to HC Chelmza Team for 5 773 659 Euro (2014-10-16)

Only a boy, still in development but you need more than few coins to sign a player with 10 pucks in Power in Shooting.

Number 2
From H.T. National Bucuresti to HC Chelmza Team for 5 788 127 Euro (2014-11-24)

Yes, that’s right. Another player bought HC Chelmza Team. Have they robbed a bank? Haha Anyway, another great player and I hope I don’t play U23 matches against them lol.

Number 1
From Falingos HC to Hc Lila Hästen for 6 483 247 Euro (2015-01-03)

The most expensive player of season 44 is Alex Anger, sold by over 6M. He has a great future ahead, that’s for sure but imagine the pressure he has got on his shoulders for being number 1 in this list? Poor little rich boy!

Half of the players in this list have 23 years old or less and they cost altogether 28 million Euro. Do you still need a reason to train properly your youths? I don’t think so!
One more time I would like to thank all the managers who bought these players for kindly send me their pictures so I could make this article.

By agapitod

Ice Hockey players with highest amount of pucks

‘Ever wanted to know who the most talented individual players in the game are? We were curious too, so we ran a script to locate the players with the highest puck/ball counts, excluding form’ has written crew in one of the last statements of 2014.
They gave us the list with names only but we are very curious crew, we want to see how they are! For this reason, we have contacted all the lucky managers, owners of those hockey stars and we have got most of them. Have a look…

N.15 – Cezary Klucznik, Grube Bolki Gizycko

Class player, he has 78 pucks altogether but are not very far from number 1.

N. 14. Emanuel Jerca, Atlético Mineiro HC

The manager has sacked him and for this reason, we could not see Emanuel Jerca.

N. 13. Bozhko Kash, Eslovenia Ice

Even though he is number 13 in the list, he is in my opinion the best player of all. 10 pucks in 5 attributes, are you kidding me?

N. 12. Mats Salqvist, Piruanik Nation

Absolutely complete player, I understand now why Piruanik Nation are so strong.

N. 11. Peter Svensson, Tallboda Tigers

Great centre for Tallboda Tigers, the player was bought for less than a million euro. This is truly a bargain!

N. 10. Korneliusz Rakowski, Zaduszniki

One more player with 78 pucks, Korneliusz is a real loyal player and never left Zaduszniki. He’s already retired though and might start coaching soon.

N. 9. Charlie Björnberg, Fågelmara IK

Another retired player, Charlie and his 79 pucks have helped Fågelmara IK to win Generation Cup and Season Cup two times in a roll.

N. 8. Cristobal Zaera, Gang Bang Squad

Another player sacked and so, impossible to see how good he was.

N. 7. Buğrahan Çelikta, HC Steaua Lehliu

Despite of having only 7 pucks in Power, he is perfect for Romanian Div2 and 80 pucks total is not for anyone.

N. 6. Cláudio Mendes, Drink Team

Wonder why Drink Team have won the Irish Ice Hockey League so many times? A bit because of this player, very often seen as player of the match!

N. 5. Ioan Anton, Strateni FC

The manager hasn’t replied our request so unfortunately we don’t know how he looks like.

N. 4. Mats Eggers, St. Intrigue Sharks

Great player, could have been keeper if he wanted haha. What a strong defender he was.

N. 3. Rodney Olalla, Astilleros Guayas Hochey

Very intriguing, Rodney has 80 pucks total but only 5 in power and still training it. Not maxed in power, 37 years old and NOT MAXED in power!!!!

N. 2. Jakub Vašut, The Middle Line

The youngest player in the list, Jakub already has 80 pucks and if he still trains something, I would say he’ll be number 1 very soon.

N. 1. 洪峰锋, 中吴八邑

Made in China, the player with an unpronounceable name has the highest amount of pucks (according to crew). He came from the team’s academy and never left the club so we can assume the manager is really good at training players. Well done!!!

So this was the list of these spectacular players that I wish they were all in my roster. I hope crew does that every now and then because is really fun to see some Top Players like them.

By agapitod